Cale gently smiled at the prince, and started to think.
'Don't know. I don't know.'
The Black Dragon kept on dragging on about asking why a dragon would ever use its magic for such an useless man and how he would never do such a thing, but Cale tried his best to not listen.
– Hmm? His pupils are also dyed. This weakling is definitely plotting something. Weak human, be careful.
'If you stop talking, I think I'll be fine.'
– Hmm? This person is not weak. Weak human, be extra careful. You will die.
'Shit.'
Cale was frightened of this Black Dragon, that was explaining useless things, for the first time. At the same time, Cale's mind began to think quickly.
The prince's mother was not the queen. She was a concubine, and she originally was a servant, one of the citizens who worked in the royal family. The third prince's mother was the current queen. The crown prince's mother is said to have had a questionable death when the crown prince was young.
Cale started to naturally think about the true identity of the crown prince's mother.
The prince was known to be average, but the dragon was saying that he is not weak. In the novel, even Choi Han judged the crown prince to be normal, so what was he hiding? And how did the dragon find out?
'… No. Whether he hides it or not, it is not my business. '
Cale did not listen to the murmuring black dragon. Something must have been really interesting, as the Black Dragon continued to talk about the crown prince.
"… Mister Cale seems to be a bit like me."
The crown prince was saying something, but Cale was too busy thinking about things, so he just casually responded.
"Your majesty, such a statement is the biggest honor of my life."
The crown prince let go of Cale's hand, as if he was nervous. Cale did not notice the nervousness, and stepped back without a word, moving behind Eric. It was easy to use Eric as a shield when things got complicated.
The crown prince observed Cale with curiosity, before turning his gaze over to Eric.
Eric started to speak with the crown prince once again.
Cale watched him and started to think.
'There is a reason.'
There was a reason the crown prince was wary of the second and third princes. There was also a reason as to why the king's favor suddenly went to the third prince. He was able to guess it all.
'Is he not really his son? Or is there a different secret to his birth?'
Cale's mind went to a drama that Kim Rok Soo saw while working at a restaurant after graduating high school.
The crown prince, Alberu Crossman, was naturally the main character.
Cale reaffirmed himself once more.
'Be still.'
He would be still from here on. He made the decision to not find out about anything else.
Cale thoroughly kept that promise. He did not drink any alcohol today, and that led to the nobles from other regions, who had never met him previously, approaching him to talk. Cale looked to Eric every time, and Eric got to work.
After this happened a couple of times, Cale quietly mumbled to himself.
"Oh. This is pretty nice."
Gilbert and Amiru flinched after hearing that quiet murmuring, and started to talk to each other using their eyes.
'Isn't this weird?'
'Right?'
The two of them slightly moved away from Eric and Cale. However, Cale looked toward young lady Amiru, and Amiru stopped moving backward after making eye contact with Cale.
"By the way, young lady Amiru."
"Yes?"
"I heard the shoreline of your territory is extremely beautiful. Is it true?"
"Of course. The cliffs overlooking the coast are very beautiful."
'Beautiful my ass.'
Cale thought about the cliff and about how it would be extremely difficult to earn the, 'Sound of the Wind.' In the novel, the, 'Sound of the Wind,' was an ancient power that a member of the non-mage faction in Whipper Kingdom ended up finding.
Although it might be strange that a person from the Whipper Kingdom ended up with an ancient power in the Roan Kingdom, there was a long story behind that as well.
Anyways, that power originally went to a mage slayer, an extremely brutal fool who appears near the second half of the civil war. He was already strong enough that he didn't really put it to much use.
'The magic tower will fall soon.'
After the civil war, a new magic tower would be built on the site of the fallen magic tower, and Rosalyn will end up being in charge of that new magic tower.
'Choi Han, the mage slayer, and the Empire's crown prince.'
These three people are the ones who appear as the heroes for all of the incidents in the middle of the Western continent. The novel also discussed how the Queen of the Western continent's Southern Jungle ended up getting involved with the matter of unifying the South as well.
Putting the secret organization that Choi Han constantly runs into aside, this continent will break its 200-year long peace to start fighting for power.
Cale looked toward Eric, who was dealing with everything for him, and looked at the clock. The feast would be over soon. Of course, the nobles were waiting for the conversation time that would happen after the meal.
'None of my business.'
It was none of Cale's business.
"Young master Gilbert, I should be able to leave after the meal is over, right?"
Gilbert looked toward Cale, who was leisurely eating fruit like he was out on a picnic, and nodded his head.
"Yes. We plan to meet with the crown prince after the meal, but you probably don't plan to go with us, right?"
"Right. What good will I do there? The three of you are more informed about the investment information."
Gilbert's expression changed at Cale's words. He seemed to be a bit surprised.
"…You read the document."
"A bit."
Cale casually responded, before looking back at the crown prince, who stood up from his seat. He was about to announce the end of the meal. Cale did not find out the real reason behind today's gathering, but he was not disappointed about it. Not knowing meant there was no chance of him getting caught up in it.
But Cale started to frown after hearing the crown prince's words.
"It was a pleasure to share this dinner with all of you tonight. I have prepared a simple wine party for those who may be interested, so please enjoy yourselves. Ah, I have also prepared a spot for all of you at the birthday celebration that is coming up."
The crown prince Alberu said all of this with a rather pleasant expression.
"I hope that you will all be there to share in the joys of the day."
'Sigh.'
Cale held back his sigh. Although Alberu was saying he hoped they would all be there, it was pretty much forcing them to be there.
'…I guess I'll be in the plaza when the bombs go off.'
Although it was to be expected, Cale did not like it very much.
"Then let us conclude this dinner."
Cale stood up from his seat. The majority wanted to go to the wine party with the crown prince and the second and third princes, but those who were not approved to meet with the crown prince could not go, even if they wanted to do so.
Cale peeked toward the wheelchair that was moving past him. Taylor passed by him and Cage, who was pushing Taylor's wheelchair, followed directly afterward and whispered in a quiet voice that only Cale could hear.
"See you later, our little brother."
'I said I didn't want to be their little brother.'
Cale's gaze clearly showed his feelings, but Cage just pretended to not understand and headed toward the crown prince, while pretending to be a good and pure priestess.
"Young master Cale, let me walk you out."
"Young lady Amiru."
Amiru approached Cale and offered to walk with him. Cale looked toward Amiru's green hair and calm yet sophisticated expression, and casually asked.
"Are you worried I will cause trouble on my way out?"
"Unfortunately, young master Neo was heading back early as well."
"Ah."
She was saying she was going with him in case Neo tried to start something again. Cale headed toward the banquet hall door without any other questions, with Amiru next to him. The two of them arrived at Cale's carriage without saying much, and found Ron waiting by the carriage.
"Young master Cale, good job today."
Cale nodded his head at Amiru's words.
"It was hard. But you have to go back and work some more, young lady Amiru."
Amiru smiled and started to speak.
"It is because we need to get some good news."
However, Cale could sense the despair in her voice. The Northeastern coast was really a useless piece of land. It was a place filled with cliffs, with nothing else being interesting.
Furthermore, the whirlpools around the cliffs were also a problem. The experienced people living in the territory knew how to avoid them, but it was a dangerous place for others.
'The, 'Sound of the Wind,' is responsible for the whirlpools.'
Amiru and Gilbert would want to get some investment in this useless sea, no matter what. Cale looked toward Amiru, who spoke with a strange expression on her face.
"I believe we are capable of getting such results."
"Young lady Amiru."
"Yes, young master Cale."
Cale thought it wouldn't be bad to give some help to Eric, Gilbert, and Amiru, whom he worked today like the beast people under his command. They still needed a balance of power in the Northeast nobles' meeting, and Amiru seemed like someone who would keep secrets pretty well.
"I believe his highness will be pretty interested in this investment."
"I think so too."
Amiru agreed with Cale's statement. It was because the crown prince remembered the issue, even without Eric bringing it up first.
"You discussed an investment for tourism right?"
"Yes."
Investing in tourism using the coastal cliffs. In Cale's opinion, it was completely useless. He approached Amiru and whispered in her ears.
"If you are in desperate need of investment, I think it would be good for you to think about the value of the location of your shoreline in relation to the Whipper Kingdom and the other northern Kingdoms."
"Excuse me?"
Cale shrugged his shoulders at the confused Amiru and added on.
"Of course, it would be best if you kept what I just said to yourself."
"…I will remember your words for now."
Cale was satisfied with Amiru, who seemed confused, but kept her mouth shut. He got on the carriage and waved to Amiru. Amiru lightly moved her head to respond to his wave.
Cale started to speak to Ron, who was closing the carriage door.
"Let's go."
"Yes, young master."
The carriage soon started to move. Cale looked out at Amiru, who was seriously contemplating what Cale had said without heading back in, and started to think about the Northeastern shoreline.
The Northwestern shoreline was made up of sandy beaches. In comparison, Amiru and Gilbert's territory's shoreline was complicated, with many small islands. Furthermore, they were also surrounded by sharp cliffs.
Finally, there were only a few places where ships could safely be anchored. Of course, the fishermen there were veterans who would be able to avoid the whirlpools to safely fish without any issues.
'They only thought about tours and sightseeing because the peace had lasted so long.'
But the crown prince will know that the end of the peace was quickly approaching.
'Anyways, all I have to do is go get the ancient power before that mage slayer takes it for himself.'
Cale decided not to think about it anymore. That night, two reports were delivered to Cale, as he headed back from the feast.
"We found four of the magic bombs."
In the novel, there were five located in different places, and five located on people.
"All of them were around the plaza."
"Show me the map."
Cale reached his hand out to Choi Han. Choi Han had left the Black Dragon at the site of the magic bombs and had returned by himself. He seemed to have rushed back, as there was sweat on his face.
"We found one, and then I ran around with the dragon in my arms to thoroughly look everywhere. We ended up finding three more in the process, but nothing more. I'm sure we need to look somewhere other than the plaza, but there were none in the places we've looked so far."
"No need to rush, since it will be safe until the day of the celebration in two days."
"But it is better to get rid of dangerous things earlier!"
"Let's steal them on the early morning of the celebration day."
"… Excuse me?"
The magic bombs Cale knew about required the developer to send a signal to blow them up. However, for anyone at the Black Dragon or even Rosalyn's level of magic, it was pretty easy to cut the connection between the developer and the bombs even if it took some time to do so. That was how Rosalyn was able to destroy the bombs on the people in the novel.
'That needs to be done the day of the celebration.'
That was the only way to make that bloodthirsty mage think everything is fine.
"Steal them? We are not going to destroy them?"
Cale handed the map back to the confused Choi Han, and started to speak.
"Why would we destroy such useful things?"
Even if the bombs cannot be used, the densely packed mana inside was a pretty useful ingredient.
"I will use it for myself."
Choi Han thought Cale's smile was pretty sneaky. Cale continued to speak to Choi Han, who accepted the map with a confused expression.
"Keep looking since there may be more. Check back multiple times to see if the location of the bomb changes as well."
Choi Han and the Black Dragon will now need to stay hidden around the plaza and continue to investigate. It will be hard, boring, and extremely taxing on their minds, but it was not something Cale was going to do himself. ( (PR: OMG I LOVE THIS GUY.) )
Cale looked toward On and Hong, who just woke up from their nap and started to speak.
"Time to pay up."
Cale also spoke to Choi Han.
"Go work."
The two kittens, who were rubbing their eyes tiredly, and Choi Han went to work as Cale had instructed. Cale leisurely watched them jump off the terrace window, before drinking the wine he did not get the chance to drink at the banquet, before falling asleep.
A piece of information was delivered to Cale while he was sleeping. Cale was able to hear the news after waking up.
Billos was going to arrive at the capital today, the day before the birthday celebration. Cale immediately headed to the inn where he was going to meet Billos.
It was the place the 10 wolf children were staying. Of course, On, Hong, and Lock were with Cale as he headed to the inn. He thought about what Lock just said, and asked.
"You want me to take care of your siblings?"
"Yes. That is the condition for my deal."
"And what can you do for me?"
"It is not just me that will do it."
Lock answered without any hesitation.
"If it is not just you, who else?"
Lock quickly answered.
"My siblings will do it with me. We are stronger as a group."
Cale felt the back of his head turning chilly.
'No way.'
Lock ruthlessly hit Cale with another mental blow.
"The Blue Wolf Tribe has a famed history of being strong knights. That history-"
"Is not something I need to know about."
Cale turned away from Lock, who was sitting across from him in the carriage.